130 years back amidst the magic of wine

The unique Experimental Winery of the Institute of Viticulture and Enology in Pleven was established in 1892 as a training cellar attached to the already existing Viticulture and Enology School in Pleven. Today it preserves one of the oldest collections of wines in Bulgaria, including exhibits from the first vintages of the winery, wines from introduced and local varieties, as well as from varieties created at the Institute. 

Assoc. Prof. Eng. Tatyana Yoncheva, PhD 

In the Golden Book of the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria, in 2021 the team of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zdravko Nakov, Tatyana Yoncheva and Vanyo Haigurov, headed by Prof. Dr. Miroslav Ivanov from the Institute of Viticulture and Enology in Pleven, who has discovered more than 10 new grape varieties, was entered. They are adapted to withstand cold and are environmentally friendly, which makes them suitable for organic production.

Every year the enotheque is enriched with new batches of bottled wines – the best from each vintage. The wines in the cellar are stored under conditions optimal for this purpose. Throughout the year, the temperature in the premises is about 15°C, maintained naturally, since the cellar is dug into a slope and the thickness of the walls is about 1 meter. The walls and ceilings are covered with noble mold, transferred from the cellars in the Tokaj wine region (Hungary), which helps to maintain an optimal relative humidity in the premises, suitable for wine aging. In the cellar there are pupitres with exhibits from experimental production of naturally sparkling wines by the classical method, carried out in the middle of the last century.

The enotheque also contains wines and other beverages from Bulgarian and foreign producers, received by the Institute as gifts on the occasion of anniversaries, conferences, symposia, and others.